The new Genin
by dunno why this is here
Summary: This is my first story. It's about a group of nonsuperpowered OC's. That's pretty much it, I guess. Note: Not self-insertion.
1. Chapter 1

Alright, first story. Sorry if it seems a bit weird, but I am new at this. This story is about three new genin. And for the record, these people are not based on anyone that I know. Trust me, if it was, this story would be rated M and be under Humor. I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Hideko sat in the room with all the other students. She could feel the excitement in the air. Or maybe it was just her. Either way, her life was going to change. Soon she would be set up with a squad. Her own squad. And, with any luck, her not-to-secret crush Sasuke would be in it. She could practically HEAR their names being called together. It was bound to happen, practically fate, and she knew it.

"Uzumaki Naruto" a distant voice said. It surprised her a bit, jolting her from her daydream. She hadn't been expecting his name, seeing as he didn't graduate and all.

"Haruno Sakura." Another rival down. Hideko LOVED the girls reaction to being stuck with Naruto.

"Uchiha Sasuke"

It took her a few seconds to truly realize what she had just heard. At first, she thought she imagined it. But then she noticed Sakura's reaction. No real chance for misinterpretation.

* * *

"Thank god" Shinsuke thought. Of all the people in this room, Sasuke was possibly the only one he couldn't stand to be teamed with. It had nothing to do with Sasuke himself. He just couldn't stand fangirls, let alone being known as the teammate of the guy who they all crowded around. He honestly doubted that he would be able to keep his sanity while dealing with it. In fact, he would feel bad for Naruto if it weren't for the fact that they pretty much avoided him. But then, with his new status, that could change.

* * *

Shiori sat in the back of the room. She had been fantasizing about this day for years. Of course, her fantasies moved along faster. She was pretty sure that they picked the slowest possible method for stating the teams, and couldn't quite decide if this method was chosen because of suspense or incompetence. It was as if these people had never heard of a bulletin board. Sitting around waiting like this was practically painful.

"Ushiba Shiori"

Her name. She had FINALLY heard her name.

"Maeno Hideko"

She didn't recognize that name. She took a quick look around and, to her surprise, no one was reacting in any way. She KNEW that she couldn't be the only one excited about getting assigned to a team.

"Rokusho Shinsuke"

She saw a boy with dark green hair sit up a bit.

"Your new Sensei is Royama Etsuya."

* * *

"Um, is she okay" Hideko sat up. Everyone in the room was staring at her. She couldn't understand why. "Well, you back to reality yet?" The man in front of her said. She looked at him closely. He looked, essentially, like almost every other jounin she had ever seen. In fact, the only way she was sure she could pick him out in a crowd was his short, spiky black hair. And even then she wasn't positive.

Who are you, again?"

"Your new sensei."

She had only partially expected that. Great, her name gets called, and she never even hears it. Her two other teammates were standing up front. One was a girl slightly taller than her. Her brown hair was in a ponytail, and she was wearing a green, sleeved shirt and those generic shinobi pants. Next to her was a boy with dark green hair. He had on a gray shirt with dark brown shorts.

"Alright, if you're awake, we're going. I intend to get this done with as soon as possible." The three squadmates just looked at each other. They had always just assumed that after they passed the genin exam, they were done. The jounin walked out of the door before they could ask what he had meant. He was then followed by his new but confused students.

* * *

It's over. My first ever chapter. I feel like I should celebrate, if it weren't for the fact that I wrote almost nothing. Not sure what to write here. Umm... read and review


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, chapter 2. I have the first few prewritten, so this should get updated pretty quickly.

I don't own Naruto.

* * *

'Alright, now I just need to fail these genin so I can get back to sleep,' The Hokage may have the power to force him into testing a genin squad, but he couldn't make him pass them. Of course, his 'pupils' couldn't find out. This was his third year with a squad. Each year he gave them the same task. Last year, his squad almost finished, but, as he explained, almost doesn't work on an actual mission.

They had been nearing the training ground that he had reserved for the test. Training ground 12 was, from the outside, a forest. It was practically perfect for his test. He turned to face the genin when they reached the entrance.

"Alright then, I suppose I should explain what is going on." He started this while they were still walking up. "When you passed that last exam, you were given your hitai-ite. Now, it's time to actually earn the right to be a ninja." The group was staring at him. Clearly, this wasn't what they were expecting. "The point of this is to prove that you can actually turn those skills you learned at the academy into success on an actual mission. Fail, and I get to personally send you back to the academy."

"But that's not fair!!! We passed the exam, we obviously have the skills we need!" Said the girl who, minutes before, had been daydreaming. The other two seemed to agree with her statement.

"What is your name?"

"Maeno Hideko."

"Well Hideko, while you did pass the exam, sometimes people slip through the cracks. These people then get themselves killed on a mission that they never should have been on."

She seemed satisfied with the answer, but her teammates did not.

"The exam was one student working on their own with two teacher's grading them. There isn't much opportunity for someone to 'slip through the cracks.'"

"Your name is? In fact, why don't I just get both of your names, since you seem to be in agreement."

"Ushiba Shiori."

"Rokusho Shinsuke."

"Well, that's exactly the problem. They test that you can work separate in the exam, while this test is that you can work with other ninja." It looked like he finally had them all in agreement. "Well then, now that that's out of the way, lets get back to the important part. For this exam, somewhere inside of the training area is a scroll that you need to recover. There isn't any decoy scrolls, so you'll know it when you see it. Your mission is to get it and come back in under three hours."

Etsuya knew someone would question this. Someone always did. "Okay, that sounds way to easy. How does this involve us working together at all?" Asked Shinsuke.

"Well, I guess you'll know when you enter. By the way, the time starts…now."

The group approached the training area slowly. They were positive that something was waiting for them. The area was nowhere near big enough to justify the time limit.

"You know what, that's probably it," Said Hideko. Shiori and Shinsuke glanced at her. "Don't you two get it? There's nothing there! The time limit tricks you into moving slowly so that you fail!" Neither of her teammates were convinced, and it took all of Etsuya's training to stop him from breaking into laughter. "Look, I'll show you!" At that moment, she broke into a sprint towards the woods. About ten feet in, she realized her mistake. Their was nothing that she could do as the rope that was under her feet had completely wrapped around her legs and hoisted her into the air. "Okay, maybe I was a little bit off. Still, at least I found out what the hard part of the exam was!" Both of her teammates were staring at her. "Are either of you going to help, or am I just stuck here?"

Shiori was the one to finally say something. "You know, the way towards you is probably trapped, also."

"Of course it isn't!!! How would I have gotten over here if it were trapped. Besides, you can't just leave me here." Her teammates actually agreed with her on that. They would need the help if they were going to pass.

"Fine, just hold still." Shinsuke then launched a shuriken toward the rope, slicing it in half. Hideko fell down and landed on her back.

"GOD that hurt! What is wrong with you!"

Shinsuke just shrugged. "I guess it's my sense of self-preservation. Now get up so we can look for that scroll and get out of here." Hideko got up as her teammates walked forward. Cautiously. The last thing they wanted to do was trigger another trap. Moments later, they reached her successfully, and then headed deeper into the area. They decided to fan out, but remain in sight of each other, so that they could cover the largest possible area while still watching out for each other. Which had turned out to be entirely necessary. Despite their best efforts, they couldn't avoid everything. All of them had, at some point, tripped off something. The worst traps were, by far, the explosive tags. They were difficult to spot, and getting away usually triggered other traps. If they couldn't see each other, then they would have gotten stuck long before. They had wasted over an hour and were already dead tired, and seemingly no closer to finding the scroll then when they had started.

Shiori was the one to notice. "Hey, is it just me, or is the forest getting less thick?" She turned to her teammates.

Shinsuke spoke first. "Yeah, it looks like it. We must be getting near the edge. Hopefully we didn't pass it."

However, it turned out to be some form of clearing. In the center of it was a small shack with no windows and only one entrance.

The group walked toward the structure. Hideko was the one to finally say something. "Wow, this isn't a completely obvious trap."

"Well, I guess that we won't know 'til we open it," Said Shinsuke. Despite his statement, he seemed no more willing to actually enter the building than the rest of his group. Shiori decided to act on this.

"Then open the door. We aren't going to gain anything by just waiting here." He looked directly into her eyes. She was completely serious. He turned to his other teammate, but she cut him off.

"You're the one to suggest it. You should be the one to open it."

He took a step forward. They could hear him mutter something but couldn't quite make out what. "Dammit, why did I have to say that." He reached toward the door. He touched the handle. Nothing happened. He gave it a slight pull. Nothing happened. He pulled it all the way, standing to the side. Nothing happened. He peeked through the doorway. Yep, the scroll was definitely in there. But that was the last thing that he noticed. 'Holy crap, why is this even part of the exam! No one would ever guard something like THIS.'

"Are you going to tell us what is there or not? Is the scroll there, or do we leave." He didn't answer. Shiori repeated the question, this time with more annoyance in her tone.

"Yeah, it's definitely in here."

"Then grab the thing so we can go!" It was Hideko who asked this time.

"I can't."

"Why, is it trapped?"

She had no idea. "You could say that." Shiori, now curious, walked toward the doorway. She had been expecting some form of trap, but nothing like THIS. The entire inside was filled with tripwires. The walls and ceiling were completely covered. She couldn't even see the other wall. In the center of the room, on the floor, was a scroll. She understood what Etsuya had said perfectly now. She definitely knew it when she saw it. And it scared her a little. "Hideko, come over here, your smaller than either of us." The girl walked up. She was obviously getting agitated.

"It's a room. How hard could this possibly b-oh GOD! You can't expect me to go in there, can you?" Of course, she knew the answer before either of them said anything.

"Well Hideko, like Shiori said, your smaller than either of us. You're the only one with the slightest chance of success. So… good luck."

"Huh, thanks for the pep talk. Now I DEFINITELY feel like I'm not gonna die." Despite these protests, it was obvious that they weren't going in there, and one of them had to. She grudgingly entered into the mess of wires, carefully sliding under the first set. She kept going, carefully weaving her way through the mess of wires. Miraculously, she made it to the center, where the scroll, and a small, empty area was. She let out a deep breath.

She could hear Shiori shout from the doorway. "Alright, you're there, now toss the scroll through so that you can get out."

"WHAT? How do I know that you two won't just leave me here?"

It was Shinsuke who answered the question. "Hideko, did you completely forget what this mission was for? We're supposed to complete this as a team. Why on earth would we leave you here?" He was right, and she knew it. Carefully, she picked up the scroll, took aim, and launched it. However, near the end, it hit one of the wires dead on. The trio stared at it in complete shock.

"I really hope that I didn't just slide my way through this mess of wire for no reason."

"Well Hideko, if I had to guess, then yes. Yes you did."

"Wow Shinsuke, way to kick me while I'm down." Then, Hideko took out a kunai and started chopping down the wires in her way. The other two did the same. Soon, they had grabbed the scroll and left back toward the woods. "So, does anyone know how much time is left?"

* * *

This was, by far, the worst part of the entire process. Etsuya hadn't realized this after his first group, who, after a short time, gave up on the exam. They had said that they wouldn't risk their own lives trying to break through the shack, and had failed. They never did join a squad. The second group did better. They had actually gotten through to the scroll. However, they were late by ten minutes. Despite this, they had come to close for his comfort. He couldn't risk someone passing, which is why he had shrunk the time span by an hour. There was no way a group of genin could actually succeed in only three hours. He checked his watch. He still had half an hour before they failed.

* * *

"Dammit Shinsuke, if your gonna carry the thing, watch where your running!!!"

"Well then, Hideko, Why don't you carry it!" True, he did trigger that last trap, which flung a kunai directly in her path, but he still felt like defending himself. They were almost out of time, and if they didn't hurry, then they were sure to fail. Besides, as Shiori had said, the traps were meant for people heading in, not out. The timing on these was too far off to hit the person who triggered it.

"Shinsuke, I realize that your anxious and all, but if you could avoid hitting every trap, we would appreciate it."

"What Shiori, you're the one who said that we should go fast."

"Yeah, but I don't think that you could run this fast carrying either of us."

He slowed his pace a bit. She was right. While he was one of the fastest genin in the village, he couldn't always keep track of what he was doing at speed, and his teammates were having a hard enough time keeping up with him without dodging sharp objects. "Sorry."

"Oh yeah, slow down for HER."

* * *

Only ten minutes left until they had failed. Just ten. Of course, he would have to wait here while they came out, but he still kept track. His nerves wouldn't completely calm down until they had officially failed. Not that they would pass, but he like to make sure. At that point, he thought he had heard something from the area. He turned toward the forest. To his relief, it was just his imagination. Of course it was. They couldn't have finished by now. They might have found the shack, but they would never have gotten the scroll out in time. He looked back at his watch. Six minutes left.

"Hey, I think we're getting close!"

There was no way that he had heard that. No possible way. Still, he had to check. Just to make sure. What he saw shocked him. The rookies not only made it out in time, they did it with the scroll.

"There, here's your scroll, be sure not to lose it again," said Shinsuke, who was holding out the thing that he couldn't possibly have. There had to be some kind of trick to it. He took it and opened it. Inside of the scroll, the words he wrote were staring back at him. _Congratulations_. He had written this, meaning to himself for getting through another year without a squad. Now, however, the words echoed in his skull. There had to be some loophole, but he couldn't think of anything.

"Well, it looks like you finally got a squad, Etsuya." These words chilled him to the core. He turned around. Standing behind him was the Hokage himself. "I thought I should see how this year's squad had done. It would appear that they had passed." He had hoped that he could find some technicality to write these genin off on, but no chance now.

"Yes. These genin have proven themselves worthy of joining the ranks of Konoha."

"Well then, with that, I believe that I shall head back to the my office. I need to add the new graduates to Konoha's active ninja list." With that, he turned and left. Etsuya decided to address his squad.

"Okay then, since you have all passed, we are done here for the day. We will meet back here tomorrow." 'Of course the Hokage shows up, why wouldn't he. After all, he didn't show up the last two times.' However, he knew that there was no loophole, no way out. He was now trapped, stuck with a squad.

* * *

Done again...bit longer than before. So...Read and Review.


	3. Chapter 3

Alright Chapter three. I have six written at the moment, though i'm making changes. If everything goes like i plan, this story will be around twelve long, though things don't normally go like i plan.

I Don't own Naruto.

* * *

Shiori woke up extra early that morning. There was no real reason for her to, seeing as her team didn't meet for, by her best guess, ten more hours. But, as it was the day of her first team meeting, she couldn't help but feel anxious. She had been dreaming of this her whole life, and now that it finally happened, she planned on making the most of it. She didn't know much about her other teammates. She wondered what they did normally, what they were like, if they were getting up this early, like her. True, neither struck her as the type, but first impressions could be wrong. It was entirely possible that Shinsuke was as excited as she was, or that Hideko was currently wandering aimlessly around Konoha trying to find something to do to pass the time, like she was.

Or not.

Either way, she was starting to wander, subconsciously, to their meeting place, the small shack where the scroll had been stored. She didn't even realize it until she had reached the gate. She stopped, staring in. She considered entering and tracing the path that she had taken the day before. After a pause, she decided against it. For one thing, it was still a long time until her team met. For another, she had no idea if anyone had disabled all of the leftover traps. So instead, she kept walking without a destination.

* * *

This was not going to be her best day. She could feel it. It was as if someone in her head was telling her 'Hideko, just stay here. Nothing good can come from getting up.' Of course, she couldn't listen to it. Not right now, anyway. After the exam, she went directly home and fell asleep. So now, she was practically starving. She willed herself out of bed, which took much less effort than she had thought. She ate quickly, and headed out. She still had a few hours until her team had met, and she was curious as to how the other teams had done. Of course, her Sasuke's team had passed. They practically had to. But as far the others, she had no idea. She wondered if Ino was awake. She would know who passed and who hadn't. She headed toward the Yamanaka's flower shop, trying to think of exactly what to ask when she got there. One thing she had learned was that you had to be careful about how you worded things to actually get the answer you wanted, and not just some side story on a vaguely related subject.

* * *

'11, guess this is as good a time as any to get up.' Shinsuke had been putting it off for as long as possible. But now it was getting unavoidable. He tried to think of an excuse to tell himself as to why he didn't need to wake up, but couldn't think of anything. He got up like every other day, got ready like every other day, and left like every other day. And out of all of those days, he had never enjoyed waking up. In fact, the only thing separating this from those days was the time. He had nowhere to be until 3PM. He could take his time, instead of just hurrying through with his routine. Still, he never even left his apartment until it was almost 1 o'clock. He walked toward their training area, area 12. He wanted to be a little early, since he sincerely doubted that Etsuya had disabled anything in those woods. He wasn't sure why, but something about him just struck him the wrong way. It was probably just his imagination, but he still didn't want to go through there on his own. So he felt relieved when, on his way, he ran into Shiori. Or rather, he heard his name from a random alleyway.

"Shiori, you on your way to the shack also?"

"Why, what time is it? I was planning on just wandering for a little while longer."

"Well, I don't recommend it. We have just under two hours, and our sensei doesn't strike me as the type to put in the extra work of clearing out those traps."

"Why? Its not like he did anything. Besides, I think we tripped almost all of them."

He laughed at this. He really wasn't thinking about it, but on the way back, they did seem to set off almost everything in those woods. At this point, there probably wasn't that much left.

"Well, I'm gonna get going. For the first day, we should probably get there early."

* * *

It took her a few seconds to completely realize what had happened. One moment, she was walking to through the woods to the clearing, the next, there was a rope around her legs, again, and she was hanging upside down. Again. She had hoped that her new sensei had the common sense to clear all of these traps out of here. Instead, she was stuck in a tree. She reached for her pack and pulled out a kunai. She knew that it was going to hurt when she fell, like last time, but it was the only way down. Unless her team showed up, but she doubted that, seeing as it was still twenty minutes until they actually had to meet. She cut the rope, closed her eyes, and braced for impact. She had expected to land on the ground. Instead, she had landed on top of someone, knocking them over. She opened her eyes and looked around. She was directly on top of Shinsuke. A few feet away was Shiori, who had obviously jumped backward when she hit Shinsuke.

"Hideko, I have no idea where you were or what you are doing, but I would definitely appreciate it if you got off of me."

She got up quickly, flustered. "I'm so sorry I was just on my way to the meeting and then I got caught in this trap and then I-." She probably would have gone on like this if Shiori didn't cut her off.

"We get it. That lazy idiot never cleared the forest and you got caught."

"Well, I wasn't really paying attention, seeing as I assumed that he had cleared the area out already."

Shinsuke staggered to his feet. "Obviously not. We should probably stay together while we're going through here, just for safety's sake."

* * *

Etsuya got up. He had brought in some furniture to the broken down shack in the middle of nowhere, but the place still didn't feel very comfortable. Admittedly, it didn't really have to, but he still didn't like it. He headed outside for fresh air. He couldn't imagine why they had made a building with no windows, for training purposes or not. He leaned against the wall, waiting for the team he was forced to pass to show up. He felt pretty much positive that he wouldn't be good at it, and he definitely knew that he preferred A and B rank missions to C and D rank ones. A few minutes later, he saw his squad walk up.

"Alright, looks like your all here, so I won't wait. Go inside and get a seat." The three walked inside. He came in right behind them. He didn't know what they were expecting, but they definitely weren't expecting what they saw. It wasn't as if he had done much. In the center of the room were two couches, with a table between them. In fact, he almost felt insulted. It took a moment for any of them to say anything.

"How on earth did you get all of this through the woods? And why didn't you disarm those traps out there?" The black haired girl asked. It took a minute to remember her name. Hideko.

"It wasn't hard. I had them on a summoning scroll. As for the traps, I sort of forgot that they were there. Thanks for reminding me. Now that that's done with, I suppose we should start. Since we're a squad we need to work together. As such, we need to know as much about each other as possible. I want each of you to say your name, as well as anything else you feel like sharing. Let's go from left to right."

"I'm Ushiba Shiori. There really aren't any other ninja in my family, so I have had to train myself so far."

"I'm Maeno Hideko. From the almost famous Maeno clan. I might not be very good at taijutsu, but my ninjutsu makes up for it." Shinsuke had barely started when Etsuya cut him off.

"Almost famous? I've never even heard of it."

Hideko sighed. "Well, if you haven't heard of us, I'm sure you've heard of our bloodline."

"Which is?"

"Suro Shiryoku." Neither of her teammates knew what it was, but it was obvious that their sensei did.

"Your proud of that! That's practically a joke among ninja." Hideko wanted to argue, but couldn't think of anything to say. Shiori, however, was still wondering what it was. "Yeah, I guess neither of you have heard of it. It does, in essence, nothing. It makes it appear, for the user, that everything is moving slower. However, that includes their own movements. It doesn't increase their speed, strength, senses, or chakra ability. In fact, it slowly drains chakra. At least, if the stories I heard are right." He looked at Hideko. She was staring straight down. However, he thought saw the faintest bit of a nod. Shinsuke, who had been watching this occur, decided to help her out. He started off with his turn.

"I'm Rokusho Shinsuke. I am a weapons expert despite my chakra control. I also have a pretty abysmal amount of chakra." Hideko turned toward him, grateful that he managed to distract their sensei.

"Rokusho, I knew I've heard that name before. Isn't that a missing-nin?"

"Aoi, yeah. He's technically my brother, but really I never talked to him much." He intended to end it there, but Shiori was wondering something.

"What exactly did he do?"

"Well, from what I heard he tricked some kid who failed the chunin exams into stealing stuff, then killed him and ran off. Of course, that was a long time ago."

"How long?"

"Two or three years ago."

"That's not that long." It was about this time when Hideko finally spoke up.

"Alright then, if you two are done, I wanna hear more about our sensei." The two stopped and turned. They hadn't even noticed he was speaking. Etsuya just sighed.

"Well, I guess I should restart. My name is Royama Etsuya. I excel at setting up traps, and avoid using genjutsu, since it takes to long to learn. I hate hard work, but enjoy the results. So now that that's done with, I want to have a little clearer idea as to your actual abilities. So if you'll follow me…" He got up and stepped out of the room. The three genin looked at each other, hoping this test wouldn't involve a forest filled with traps. They followed Etsuya out toward the back of the area, where a small area was cleared away. A river ran through the far edge, next to the fence to state the border of Area 12. Etsuya stopped, turning toward his team.

"Well, we're here. What I'm going to have you do is simple. The three of you are going to spar, and I'm going to watch. To decide on an actual training regimen, I need to have a rough idea of what your abilities are. The match will be a simple, three-way fight. Please form a triangle so that we can start." The three walked away from each other, then got into their fighting positions. Hideko was standing next to the river; across from her was Shinsuke. Standing farther from the river was Shiori. "Now then, begin!"

* * *

Okay, first fight scene. _Took long enough_. Oh, and if the english to japanese dictionary i used was correct, Suro Shiryoku means _Slow Eyesight_. It is around the fifth name i came up with, and seems to fit the ability pretty well. Read and review.


	4. Chapter 4

Okay, an actual fight scene. Among other things.

I don't own Naruto

* * *

_"Well, we're here. What I'm going to have you do is simple. The three of you are going to spar, and I'm going to watch. To decide on an actual training regimen, I need to have a rough idea of what your abilities are. The match will be a simple, three-way fight. Please form a triangle so that we can start." The three walked away from each other, then got into their fighting positions. Hideko was standing next to the river; across from her was Shinsuke. Standing farther from the river was Shiori. "Now then, begin!"_

Shinsuke removed a weapon scroll from his pouch and ran his hand across it. A tanto appeared, and he grabbed it, placing the scroll back in his pouch. He started in a sprint toward Hideko. She formed a series of quick hand seals, and some of the water from the river flowed in front of her, forming a bubble. It sat there for a minute, then, with a sudden pushing motion, flew straight towards the charging ninja. He tried to jump out of its way, but it hit his right foot, causing him to spin, then land on his side.

Shiori, watching this, saw an opening. She charged straight at Hideko as the ball hit Shinsuke. Hideko, hearing this, turned just in time to get punched directly in the gut. However, as the blow landed, her body turned into liquid, then fell down, splattering the ground. Shiori took a step back in surprise just as Shinsuke was getting up.

A pair of Hidekos burst out of the water in front of Shiori. One of them punched toward her face, which was ducked, while the other ran past, getting behind. Shiori, who was now surrounded, formed a hand seal and pressed her hand to the ground. The ground she was standing on rose up to nearly tree level. She took out a kunai and threw it at the Hideko near the river, watching it dissolve. She turned toward the real one, which was dodging a series of slashes from Shinsuke's blade. The color of her eyes had been inverted, giving her a demonic appearance. 'That must be her bloodline.' She pressed her hand against the ground, causing the pillar to shrink back down to its previous level.

Meanwhile, Hideko was forced on the defensive, dodging Shinsuke's attacks, but unable to launch any of her own. She could feel her chakra running out, and it was only a matter of time before her Suro Shiryoku undid itself. She tried to think of something, but couldn't. She kept dodging attacks, when suddenly her foot slipped. Taking advantage of this, Shinsuke took the opening. There was nothing that she could do as she was forced to watch his foot moving forward, hitting her in the chest, sending her backward. She started to get up, but noticed Shiori standing over her. Her bloodline undid itself as Shiori punched her, knocking her unconscious.

Shiori turned to her final opponent. "And then there were two." He smirked.

"Soon to be one. Me." He charged straight toward her. She pulled out two kunai, flinging one straight at him. He deflected it without missing a step. Soon he was next to her. Their blades collided as Shiori blocked his attack. She saw what happened to Hideko, and hoped to have learned from it. She countered with a punch toward his face, followed by a slash from her kunai. He dodged both of these, and began his own attack.

The fight continued like this for a few minutes, before Shiori saw the opening that she was looking for. She lurched forward, but instead of attempting to attack, she grabbed his left arm with hers, then, before he could react, twisted around and elbowed him in the gut. Then, while still holding his arm, she brought her foot up, colliding with his face along the way. He let go of his blade as she brought hers toward his neck. However, to her surprise, he managed to catch her arm with his right. They stood like this for a few seconds. Each of them was holding one of the others arms, and neither of them could move without taking a blow from the other. Shinsuke was the one to finally saw something.

"Alright, this is getting old. We'll both let go on three. Alright?" She thought about it for a moment.

"OK"

"One"

"Two"

They said the last one together. "Three"

Each let go and, not wanting to be hit, jumped away from the other. Shinsuke reached back into his pouch and pulled out the scroll from before. He ran his hand across it and, with a puff of smoke, a naginata appeared. He grabbed it, spinning it a few times, and put away the scroll. Shiori dropped into a ready position, kunai still in hand, and waited to see how he would attack.

She glanced at Etsuya for a second. He was sitting up in a nearby tree, staring at the two of them. On the ground below him lay Hideko, though she couldn't remember him ever bringing her over there.

Shinsuke, realizing that this was as good of an opening as he could ask for, reached into his pouch, grabbed a number of shuriken, and threw them towards his opponent. She looked back, but it was too late to block them. Two of them scratched both of her arms as a third flew inches away from her head. At first, she thought that she was lucky, but after seeing Etsuya drop from his tree, she realized what had happened. Shinsuke had purposely missed hitting her anywhere vital. She watched, without moving, as Shinsuke put away his weapon, and then moved to collect his tanto. Etsuya walked toward the two of them; Hideko was still unconscious.

"Alright, I think I saw everything that I need to. We'll head back to the meeting area. Shinsuke, carry Hideko back." He nodded and walked toward the unconscious girl, picking her up. He then headed out after the rest of his team.

* * *

It was almost half an hour later when Hideko woke up. At first, she had no idea where she was. Then, everything came back to her; she lost. She was the first one gone of her squad. She was in the shack in area 12 that served as her squad's meeting spot. Her teammates and Sensei were there, as well. "Shiori, you realize that this was training and not an actual fight, right?" She said, staring straight at her teammate.

"Of course. I wouldn't have stopped attacking if you were an actual enemy." Etsuya, sensing a fight on the horizon, decided to end it before it started.

"Alright, then, since your finally awake, I suppose I should talk to you about your spar. Hideko, your taijutsu is terrible. If your opponent is using a weapon, use one yourself. Shiori, stay focused on what's going on around you. The only things that mattered were you and your opponent. Shinsuke, stop charging into fights. Read the people around you, and then act." His squad seemed to agree with him, or at least, they didn't want to argue, which was just as good. "Now then, in three days, we start taking missions. We need to get as many of these problems out of the way as possible before then. So, we're going to keep meeting out here each day between now and then. The meetings won't be long, just from 1 to 3. It's important that you put some work in on your own, as well. And with that, this meeting is over."

* * *

Hideko replayed the events of the match the entire way back home. 'That was terrible. How can I ever impress Sasuke like that? I have to get better. I have to improve. Etsuya-sensei said that my Taijutsu was my biggest weakness. I should probably start there.'

* * *

Shinsuke searched for something to eat. He wasn't really looking forward to going back to his apartment. God knows what fate awaited him there. After his brother abandoned the village, his parents became pretty much smothering, and it took all of his effort to actually get them to let him live in an apartment (mostly to get away from them).

He would never forgive Aoi for that.

His parents would probably have found out that he was part of a squad by now, and he was almost positive that they were waiting to ambush him. He needed an excuse for why he wasn't there. So he was pretty relieved when he saw a familiar face. "Hey, if you're here, I guess Naruto's probably nearby, huh?"

Hinata was obviously not expecting him to be there. She jumped, spinning around. "Shinsuke, you shouldn't sneak up on people like that." He tried not to laugh. She never liked getting surprised, especially considering that she was, as he had called her on a number of occasions, a stalker.

"Relax, I was just looking for something to eat. Oh wait, I forgot to ask, how did your exam go?"

"Umm, good. We passed. You did too, didn't you?"

"Of course, how could you think I wouldn't? This is me you're talking about! But in all seriousness, I almost failed. I was going to find something to eat, do you wanna come along?"

"Like a date? But you know that I-"

"Yeah, I know about the thing you call a relationship with Naruto. It's just as friends, which is code for, we're splitting the check." He couldn't help asking her along. For one thing, having a witness wouldn't hurt. For another, she was like a sister to him. He had talked to her after having seen her following Naruto one time, and they had been friends ever since. And while she always seemed nervous, he knew that was just how she was. He had tried to get her, on more than one occasion, to talk to Naruto, but never could. What she really needed was some self-esteem. He hoped that her squad would help her with that. Until he heard who was on it. Shino, as far as he could remember, had never said more then ten words through all of last year. Kiba was, in a word, overwhelming. He was sort of like Naruto with a dog. So, he decided, it would be up to him to help Hinata.

* * *

After talking to her family, and dinner, Shiori headed into a random training area. Her skills might not be that bad, but she still had room to improve. Of course, it would be better if she had someone to help her. But being alone didn't bother her. She was used to it. She had taught herself everything so far, and if she had to keep doing that, then so be it. However, when she got there, she noticed that someone was already there. On the ground, near a tree covered in various marks, was someone around her size. They appeared to be asleep. However, upon closer look, she realized that she knew that particular ninja. It was Hideko, who had apparently worn herself out training. She took a few steps towards the sleeping girl. She nudged her, hoping she would get up. When that didn't work, she tried a different tactic.

"OI, HIDEKO WAKE UP!!! YOUR IN THE WAY!!!" The girl jumped up, suddenly aware that her name was called. "Do you always just fall asleep in the middle of training?"

"Do you always train at night?"

"Usually. It really doesn't matter. Are you going back home then? I mean, it's pretty late."

"No, I have to get stronger."

"…What?"

"I need to get stronger. If I don't, Sasuke will never look at me. Sakura already has a head start, being his teammate. If I don't catch up, I'll fall behind and lose my chance."

"Your out here for that? Hideko, have you ever seen Sasuke? He doesn't care about anyone. You can't fall behind; no one can even make progress. It's a lost cause. Not to mention that he isn't even worth it. It's not like he's the only other human on the planet." Hideko just glared at her through this, holding in her anger until she was done. As soon as she finished, Shiori braced herself for what was about to happen.

"A lost cause!!! This isn't a lost cause!!! How can you even say that!!! This is DESTINY!!! Sasuke is AMAZING!!! Do you understand that!!!" Shiori was expecting something like this. She wasn't entirely sure why she had said anything, but it still felt good to say. She knew that she would never win this, so she figured that it was a better idea to just walk away. There were plenty of places to train other than this one. However, there was one last thing that she wanted to say before she left.

"The way that you talk, you would think that you WANT more competition."

* * *

'Well, that was interesting.' Shinsuke walked back to his apartment. He hoped he had wasted enough time that, if his parent's were there, they had already left.

On the way, he reflected on what Hinata had told him. A few of the teams he was expecting to fail, but some of the people who failed surprised him. He had known a few of them pretty well. 'Oh well, there's always next year.' He walked up the steps in his apartment and looked toward his room. Outside of the door, he saw two people he knew way to well. 'And… now it starts.'

* * *

Okay, Chapter four is done and up. Yahoo, i think. So...Read and Review


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, chapter 5. Threw in more actual characters. Why not.

I do not own Naruto

* * *

**two weeks later**

"God, who decided to give us this?"

"How is this even considered a mission?"

"You can't be serious, another D-Rank? How many of these are there?"

Etsuya was getting completely frustrated with his squad. He hated these missions as much as them, but at least he realized the necessity of it. They on the other hand, seemed to have no idea. There was no way that they were ready for anything higher. He had gotten sick of all of this, and decided to teach them the hard way. He had a little bit more than a surprise waiting for them when they arrived.

"Alright, today, we don't have a mission." They all seemed excited about this. "That is why I have something special in mind for today, but not here. So if you'll just step outside, let's see if you can figure it out." They got up, completely confused, and walked toward the door. Outside, waiting for them, was a group that they didn't recognize. "Now then, allow me to introduce you to Team Gai. This is Maito Gai, who was gracious enough to agree to a quick match. Specifically, each of you will face a member of his team. The fights are simple one on one matches until someone either gives up or is unable to continue. There isn't really a reason to delay this, so I'll just say the pairings now. Shinsuke, your opponent is Tenten. You're fight will take place in the woods near the entrance." He sized up his opponent. She had scrolls at her sides. She was obviously another weapon user, probably why they had been paired up. "Hideko, you will fight Neji. This will take place back at the river. You know where this is." She stared at the boy across from her. She could tell that, not only was a Hyuga, he had no desire at all to be there. "Shiori, that leaves…umm, mini-gai. I forget his name."

"That is my extremely youthful pupil, Rock Lee!!!"

"Right. Shiori, your fight will take place here. Head off, begin when you get there, and come back when you're done. As in, if your opponent isn't conscious, carry them." I will be watching Hideko and Neji's match; Gai will monitor Lee and Shiori's. Tenten, Shinsuke, your proctor is waiting there. Hopefully." And with that, they were dismissed, each heading off to their specific area.

* * *

"Alright then, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Miterashi Anko. I wouldn't be here if I didn't lose a bet to Etsuya, so make this quick and be done with it." That was definitely not what the either of the two genin had been expecting. Shinsuke turned towards the girl next to him, who didn't seem know this person either.

"Do you ever wonder if all of the jounin in this village are actually insane, or do you just assume they fake it?"

"I HEARD THAT!!!" A dango stick went flying past him, sticking itself into the tree behind him. "Now then, let's start this. You, girl, kick his ass."

* * *

"You're obviously nervous. It's clear that you have no real experience at fighting a real opponent. You can't win this. While, out of your team, there is another I would have preferred to face, I believe that I can still get what I want out of this fight."

Hideko had, to be honest, no idea what he was talking about, or why he would know anyone on her team. Still, she felt she still had to make up for that first fight, when she didn't even come close to winning. She readied herself, waiting for her Neji to do the same.

"It appears that you have agreed to this. In that case, you should prepare yourself for the consequences."

'Why the hell am I doing this?'

* * *

'Whoa, he's fast.' This was all Shiori really had time to think. She wasn't entirely sure what to make of Lee at first. He had stood there, waiting for her to attack. Which she did, only to get smacked into a nearby tree. After that, things hadn't really improved. It was completely obvious that she was outclassed. She needed time to think and catch her breath. However, she couldn't get away, this kid was too fast. So she was thankful when, after taking a punch that sent her backward, Lee didn't carry on his attack. She staggered back on her feet. She thought of what she could do, when suddenly it hit her. She formed a number of hand signs, then pressed her hand against the ground. It was the same one she had used before, against Hideko. With any luck, Lee wouldn't be able to attack her from this height. She pulled out a kunai, ready to throw, when Lee charged straight towards the tower. He ran straight forward, punching the stone pillar, causing a large part of the base to shatter. 'How is that even possible!'

* * *

"Are you going to keep doing that? We'll never finish if you do."

'Easy for you to say. You're winning.' Shinsuke ran behind another tree as the one he was behind fell over, due to the kunai attached to it exploding. After that initial surprise she had that she was fighting another weapon user, any advantage he had was gone. He took off sprinting again, dodging the kunai aimed at him as he moved toward another tree. 'How can she possibly have this kind of accuracy while shooting all of these?'

"Seriously, stop doing that. It's not helping anything. Trust me, you'll run out of trees long before I run out of weapons."

'Only one last trick up my sleeve.' He formed the basic seal. Suddenly, a black ball enveloped him. This was, in fact, the only technique he had ever taught himself. It blocked all vision inside, while allowing him to see out with almost no effect at all. The problem was that it was meant to be used by someone with much more chakra, while his was far below average. Because of this, if he kept it on for more than seven seconds, he would run out of chakra, and pass out. So as soon as he activated, he burst from his cover and ran straight at the Tenten. She faltered a bit, surprised at the technique, then recovered, sending a wave of kunai towards him. Only, unlike normal, these ones had explosive notes attached to them. Noting this, he turned to avoid them, releasing the jutsu along the way. 'That turned out worse than normal; I guess that won't work.'

He looked back toward Tenten. She was spinning in a circle, apparently unsure of where he had went. 'I guess she thought that I had used that cloud of smoke to get around her. Won't she'll be surprised.' He moved forward towards her, holding his tanto in his arm. He tried to sneak as close as possible before he attacked. He broke straight into a charge when he felt he was close enough. Hearing him, Tenten jumped backward, dodging the attack, and pulled out a kunai. He hoped that he would had an advantage in close combat.

* * *

'Wow, this isn't as bad as I thought. I didn't think I would last this long.' Hideko continued to dodge the Hyuga's attacks. Like in her fight with Shinsuke, she couldn't find an opening for any of her own, but at least she wasn't losing. She kept dropping back, trying to get some room between her and Neji, but as soon as she did, he just closed it. As it was, it was a test of whose chakra would hold out longer, and she knew that she wouldn't last long. Unless she could hit him, give herself time to use any of her techniques, she was finished. Then she had an idea. She remembered watching Sasuke in the woods once. He had used a kunai to deflect another kunai so that it went around an object. 'If he can see any attack coming toward him, and I can't get rid of that, I'll just make it so he can't block, even if he can see it coming.' She reached into her pouch and pulled out eight kunai, four in each hand. She threw three to each side, each at different angles, and all away from Neji. Then, she threw the other two so that they reflected off the kunai in the air, each coming at Neji from a different side. Then she launched a punch herself towards his head. She had timed the attack nearly perfectly. Dodging her fist would mean getting hit with at least one kunai, and vice versa. She felt her arm come into contact with him and he fell backward, out of the way of the two blades. Normally this would have been a time to celebrate, if it wasn't for the fact that her hand hurt. He got up, looking at her.

"The gentle fist style allows me to-"

"Block my chakra flow. I know. But you never actually hit me, so that shouldn't matter."

"I can produce the same effect from any of the tenketsu on my body. Your attack was, in essence, the same as if I had hit you." As he said this, her bloodline released itself.

She tried to mold chakra, to test his statement, and found it to be accurate. "Well, I guess this means I lose, huh."

"Do you quit then?"

"…Yes."

* * *

She just laid there. She probably could get up, but she didn't really want to. That fall hurt. When she used that, she hadn't expected that he could just knock it down. She heard him walk over. She didn't really care. She had basically given up at this point, even if it wasn't official. She was expecting him to finish the fight; instead, he presented her with his hand. She grabbed, allowing him to pull her up on her feet. "Thanks for that."

"You are very welcome. Now then, are you ready to continue?" She looked at his eyes; he was completely serious.

"No, I'm done. You win."

"Are you positive?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

* * *

She continued to block his attacks. It was obvious, however, that if this continued, she would wear out before he did. He just had to keep pressing his advantage. Of course, he hadn't expected her next move. She jumped backward, much higher than he could, and landed on a tree limb. 'How did she…doesn't matter, I just need to get her down.' He reached into his pouch, pulled out a kunai, and flung it at her. It missed, going a good three feet to the right. He heard laughter erupt from directly behind him. He turned around. It was obvious she had been intending to sneak up behind him and finish the match. Now, however, she was bent over, holding her stomach, kunai in hand.

"What was that! I didn't know it was possible to be a ninja and have that bad of aim!" Screamed Tenten.

"Well, I've never been very good with kunai. Guess that's a replacement, right?" He turned back toward the 'Tenten' in the tree. He removed a shuriken from his pouch and hit it. With a puff of smoke, it turned into a log and fell onto the ground.

"You lose, by the way." She was still chuckling while she said this. He turned, but stopped partway. She was holding the knife up to his neck. It was obvious she was trying her best to not crack up again.

"Looks like it."

"Does that mean you give up?"

"Of course." She couldn't hold it anymore. She burst into laughter again. "Well, now that this is over with, let's get back." Anko dropped out of a nearby tree. The two of them had completely forgotten that she was there.

"Well, now that that's over, I'm done." And with that, she walked off.

* * *

"Hey, we're the last one's back!" Shinsuke took note of his teammates condition. Shiori was sitting with her back against the wall. Lee was next to her. Neji was leaning against the building, as well, but while standing. A few feet away, Hideko was standing still, staring into the distance. Etsuya and Gai were talking to each other. Judging by everyone's condition, it was obvious that his teammates did about as well as he had. Etsuya and Gai noticed their arrival. They turned toward him, but he knew what they would ask. "Yeah, I lost."

"It would appear that my team has beaten yours."

"Yeah, I had a feeling that they would."

"You shouldn't be betting against your own team." Etsuya completely ignored the statement, and turned toward the two squads.

"Well, I hope that all of you have learned something during this match. I'm not sure about team Gai, but for my squad, today's training is over." He turned and walked away, His team following behind him. On the way, Hideko turned to Shinsuke. It was obvious that she had something on her mind.

"Shinsuke, your friends with Hinata, right?" This caught him off guard.

"Well, yeah. Why? When did this come up?"

"Well, she's a Hyuga, like Neji. He had said that he would have preferred to fight someone else on our team. Shiori said she had never met him either, so I thought that maybe you did." He was more than just a little surprised by this.

"I never met him. I know that he's Hinata's cousin, but that's it." She just looked down.

"Oh."

"I'll be sure to ask Hinata about him next time I see her, okay?"

* * *

He wandered aimlessly. He tried to think of the places Naruto might have gone to. That was usually where he found her. He had to ask her about this. She was, after all, practically family. She was more like a sibling than his brother ever was, and he never could stand his parents. If there was something wrong with her, he felt like he should know. He wasn't entirely sure about what he would say. They never asked each other about family. It was practically an unspoken rule between them, since neither really had many good experiences with them. Still, he had to know. He found out partway through his search that Naruto was on a mission, which meant that she could be anywhere. He was about to give up when he finally found someone who might know.

"Hey Shino. Yeah, I know, it's me, Shinsuke. Haven't seen you in a while, either. Do you have any idea where Hinata is?" The bug user just looked at him.

"No, I don't keep track of my teammates." He turned and walked away.'Great, no where near closer to finding her.' Still, he kept looking. If he found Shino, then she wasn't on a mission. She was in the village. But after a while, he was forced to give up. He hated to admit it to himself, but it was no use. It was getting dark, and he was out of ideas.

* * *

Okay, another chapter down. Read and Review. Up Next, Chunin Exams!!! sorta.


	6. Chapter 6

Okay, number six. Last one finned. Pretty close with seven, though. So here goes.

I don't own Naruto

* * *

**Three weeks later**

Etsuya was starting to wonder whether this was really a good idea. Sure, he would love the day off, but there were probably better ways then this. His team may have improved, but they still had no chance of actually passing. Not to mention that they may die. Still, there was no turning back now. His squad walked in and sat in their respective seats.

"Alright, I have a special announcement. All of you have been officially registered to take the Chunin Exams. You will report to the academy in one week. Try not to wear yourself out or anything beforehand. So… Good luck and all that." He could see the excitement on their faces.

"Do we need some kind of pass then, or do we just walk in?" Asked Hideko.

"Of course. I have the application forms with me. Just hand them in when you get there."

* * *

The group was walking back through the forest. Etsuya had told them several times that he had removed the traps, but they still never felt completely safe unless they were in a group. Shiori turned to her teammates.

"I can't wait. Imagine if we actually made Chunin. I mean, I wonder if that would be some kind of record." Shinsuke looked at her; Hideko kept walking, wrapped in her own thoughts.

"I don't think we'll actually pass, but its still an honor to be nominated our first time around."

"Wow, way to have confidence. But yeah, probably not. At least we know Etsuya has some confidence in us."

* * *

"Hey Hinata!" The girl whipped around, startled. "You'll never guess what just happened. I'm going to be in the chunin exams." She just stared at him.

"Uh, Shinsuke, you know that everyone from our year is going to be competing, right?" He looked at her. Something wasn't right. He wasn't sure what, but he could feel it.

"Wow, so you're going to be there too? Looks like we're competitors, then. Good luck. Oh, by the way, when I kick Neji's ass, I'll be sure to think of you." She smiled.

"Thank you." Now he was positive something was wrong. He turned around, as if to walk away, so he could give her an opening. That was when he heard it. He ducked, dodging the attempt by 'Hinata' to stab him. He pulled out his weapon scroll and summoned his naginata.

"Mind telling me who you are, since you're obviously not Hinata."

"Mind explaining where I went wrong." She poofed, turning into ninja. He couldn't see his face well, but he could see his hitai-ite.

'So, he's from Amegakure.' "The real Hinata wouldn't have thanked me for threatening her cousin. Not only that, she wouldn't have been so open. She might seem like she's nervous to people, but that's just her normal attitude. You, on the other hand, were the exact opposite. I guess you just figured that she was more 'normal' around people she knew." He readied himself. 'Why on earth am I getting attacked. It's not like I've done anything. In fact, the only missions I've ever done were D-rank. If he just wanted to kill someone to take their place in the exam, he would have come with a squad. Otherwise, it's just stupid. Which means that the others are probably fighting, too.' He charged towards his attacker and slashed sideways, but the ninja jumped back, and then ran off. He could have chased after, but decided against it. He figured he should check on the rest of his squad, just in case he wasn't alone.

* * *

Hideko couldn't wait. This was her chance to prove herself to Sasuke. The best genin from all the villages would be there. And she would be ready. This wouldn't be like that fight with Neji, or the spars with her teammates, or the matches back at the academy. This time, she would show just how much she had improved, how powerful she really was. She ran straight up the tree in front of her, and then jumped backward on to a nearby branch. Then, she back flipped off, landing safely on the ground. She had to keep practicing her chakra control. She went to repeat the steps, but this time, she felt someone watching her. Instead of just jumping off of the tree, she kept running up it until she reached a branch. She sat there, looking around. She felt something coming from behind her. Instead of looking, she dropped off, avoiding a blow from someone. She couldn't make out any details before she flipped around to land. She took off running towards the river in the back of her team's training ground. She knew that her assailant was following her, but she didn't look. It wasn't necessary. He was pretty sloppy, and she could hear him behind her. She got to the river and turned around. He ran out right behind her. She finally got a good look at him. He wore a headband like hers, but with vertical lines going down it. His eyes were dead white.

"It appears you have chosen a spot then." She could have talked to him, but she didn't really think she could gain anything from it. She formed a hand seal, and the water from the river diverted around her, putting her on safe ground in the center. The attacker pulled an umbrella out from his back and threw it into the air. A mass of senbon fell down towards her, but instead of dodging, she used another jutsu. The water behind her came up, going directly above her. The needles hit the water and sank a few inches before completely stopping. Then, with a new seal, small spheres of water from in front of her came up, before hurtling towards the enemy ninja. He dodged most, but a few hit him in the chest, hurtling him into a nearby tree. He fell down before disappearing into a puff of smoke.

'A clone. Then where's the real one?' She stood there, ready to be attacked again. However after several minutes, nothing happened. She couldn't sense anyone, so she assumed that he had left the area. She ran off, looking for someone to tell this to. If someone was trying to attack her, they might attack someone else, too.

* * *

Walking around Konoha, Shiori realized just how many people were going to be competing in the exam. She wondered whether they had just gotten there, or if they had been there for a while and she just never noticed. Almost every village was being represented, including a few she had never even known about. 'Well, I guess that they aren't hidden for nothing. They look strong, but their still genin like me.' She wandered for a little longer, but she could hear someone coming from behind her. She turned and saw Shinsuke running up. She started to greet him, but he cut her off.

"Have you been attacked recently by a rain-nin? He disguised himself as Hinata, then tried to kill me." She just stared at him.

"Why would he do that? It's not like you did anything." He shrugged.

"I'm not sure. He might be trying to infiltrate the exam. Where's Hideko?""I haven't seen her since our meeting." He turned around.

"C'mon then. We should try to find her. Then we'll look for Etsuya." He ran off. She trailed behind him.

They ran through the village, but couldn't find her. When they got away from the center, Shinsuke stopped.

"Alright, I think we're far enough away now." She stopped, staring at him.

"Far enough for what?" He laughed. She stepped back, afraid.

"Isn't it obvious. You won't leave here." He pulled out a kunai and threw it straight at her. She jumped to the side and pulled out a kunai of her own.

'This isn't right. Shinsuke isn't that accurate. This is someone else.' "Mind telling me who you really are?" He stepped towards her.

"It doesn't really matter. You don't need to see me." He ran straight towards her. She ducked his punch and tried to counter with a leg sweep, but he jumped and avoided it. Then, coming down, he pulled out another kunai and stabbed, only for it to hit the ground where she used to be. She slashed at his arm with her own, but he stepped back. She quickly performed a seal, and then pressed it against the ground. A wall of rock formed behind him. Then, she pulled out an explosive note and threw it at him, sticking it to the wall. He jumped to the side, but the rubble hit him on the way down. He rolled, then ran off toward a random alley. She ran after him. She couldn't see him, but she knew that he was nearby somewhere. The alley broke into a nearby street. It amazed her that noone had heard anything. Then, farther down the street, walking away, she saw Shinsuke. 'You are not getting away!!!' She ran towards him, punching straight at the back of his head. He noticed at the last minute and managed to dodge.

"What the HELL are you doing!!! Are you insane!!! Besides, I have to tell you something." He shouted this, but she kept attacking.

'I'm not going to fall for it again!!!' "Why did you attack me back there!!!" He looked at her, confused.

"I didn't!!!" 'What is wrong with her? I don't think she can even hear me right now. The least I can do is get her away from all these people.' He took off in a sprint away from her; she followed right behind him.

"Get back here!" He kept running. He tried to think of somewhere away from people, where noone would get injured. Eventually, he came up with it; the training ground.

* * *

He kept running. Behind him, he could hear her shouting. He didn't like what she was saying, either. However, despite his speed, he made sure that he went slow enough for her to keep up. He could see the gate. As he got closer, Hideko sprinted out. The two collided into each other, sending both down onto the ground.

"Watch where you're going! Oh, I have to tell you something!" Shiori caught up with them and threw a kunai towards Shinsuke, who rolled out of the way and scrambled to his feet. Hideko got up quickly and stood off to the side, unsure of what was going on.

"Let me guess. You got attacked. Hideko, this isn't Shinsuke. He tried to kill me a few minutes ago." Shinsuke looked at her.

"No I didn't! That was someone else! They went after me too!" Hideko looked back and forth at them, unsure of who to trust.

"Alright you three, this has carried on longer than I thought it would." They looked up. On top of a nearby rooftop was their sensei, Etsuya. "I think I should probably stop you now before anyone gets injured." He dropped down, landing Between Shiori and Shinsuke. "Normally, rookies like yourselves aren't entered into the chunin exams, so you guys were tested to see if you were ready or not. All of you passed, by the way."

Hideko looked at him. "And you never told us this because…"

"If I told you, you wouldn't have reacted the same. We needed to make it seem real." Much to Shinsuke's relief, Shiori put away the kunai in her hand.

"Your actually Shinsuke, aren't you?" He nodded. "Umm, I guess I should apologize, then. Sorry I tried to kill you."

"I think you forgot something."

"What?"

"I'm pretty sure you threatened to kill my entire family at one point. Among other things."

"You know what, screw you. Last I heard, you hated your family."

"Somehow, that doesn't sound like a valid excuse." She glared at him. "Alright, I give. Accepted." Etsuya looked over toward his pupils.

"Well, now that this is done with, I have better things to do." And with that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Hideko sighed. "I really hate it when he does that." Shiori and Shinsuke looked at her.

"Why?" Said Shiori. "I mean, when I learn that technique, I'll use it." Hideko shrugged.

"I don't know. I just think it's creepy."

"Your bloodline makes the color of your eyes change. Trust me, it's much creepier than that."

"…That makes me feel much better. Thanks." Hideko started to walk off. Her teammates just stared. After a minute, Shinsuke ran over after her, wondering what he had missed.

"Hey, what was that? You can't expect me to just leave you on your own after that, can you?" She kept walking, staring at the ground.

"Do you think that my bloodline is creepy?"

"What?"

"Is it creepy? Do you think that Sasuke would think that, too?" He looked straight ahead. He wasn't sure if he could keep looking at her while she was like that.

"No, of course not. Hideko, you need to stop thinking about what Sasuke thinks. If something is going to happen between the two of you, then your eyes aren't going to stop it, okay?" She looked up at him.

"Do you think that I'm weird for caring about what he thinks? I mean, I know that Shiori does. But I never really talked to you like this. Just the two of us, I mean."

"I think you're about as weird as every other shinobi in this village. Seriously, have you even payed attention to these people? Sometimes I'm afraid to go to sleep at night." She laughed.

"But seriously, is there something seriously wrong with me?" She looked at Shinsuke, but he wasn't the one who answered.

"Of course there is. You have way to much dedication towards training to be a fangirl." They turned toward the voice. Shiori had caught up with them. "Seriously, I don't think they would even be ninja if Sasuke wasn't here."

"Thank you, Shiori. It's getting late, I should probably get home now." She took off running. Her teammates just stood there, surprised at the sudden reaction. Shiori started to walk off, but Shinsuke stopped her.

"What exactly did Hideko mean when she said that you thought she was weird?" Shiori turned around.

"Oh yeah. Back after our second day as a team, I told her Sasuke was a lost cause. She was pretty much pissed afterwards." And with that, she walked off. Shinsuke stared as she turned the corner.

* * *

See what i mean by sorta chunin exams. This is the part that a lot of authors just skip over. Well, anyway, the actual exam starts next chapter. Read and review.


	7. Chapter 7

Now, the first stage of the chunin exams. Here we go. Now the updates start taking longer. Oh, this chapter contains the secret behind Tenten's name. Or at least, my theory on it.

And i skipped the rules. there's no real point in saying them, seeing as everyone knows them

I don't own Naruto

* * *

**One week later**

"Wow, there's more people here than I thought."

The trio walked up to a large mob outside of the door where the first stage of the exam was being held. The door was being blocked by two people, apparently Chunin. Up front, two familiar people, Tenten and Lee, were arguing with them. They watched as Lee took a punch that sent him backward.

"There is no way he couldn't have dodged that." Stated Shiori. They saw Tenten try, with the same results. Then, they saw Sasuke and Sakura walk over and point out that the sign was actually a genjutsu. A week ago, Hideko would have probably run over, saying how Sasuke was the greatest. As it was, she stood there, attempting to pretend he wasn't there, but doing a terrible job. Shiori and Shinsuke looked at each other, and it took all of their willpower to not burst into laughter. They replayed the event in their heads.

* * *

**_Three days ago_**

_"Hey Hideko, I just thought of what you can do!" Hideko looked away from her Ramen towards Shiori._

_"What? Trust me, I've probably already thought of it." _

_"Oh no, this is sure to work." Shinsuke looked at the two, curious. "So far, you've been acting way too interested in him. So maybe if you tone it down a little, it'll work better. You know, act indifferent around him. Eventually, maybe he'll miss the attention and realize his feelings towards you." Shinsuke was almost positive that this would result in another shouting match. He couldn't be more wrong._

_"…That might actually work."_

_Later on, after Hideko left, he decided to ask about it._

_"So just to be clear here, you told her to shut up around Sasuke, and she actually agreed."_

_"Yeah, pretty much."_

_"You know, she's going to kill you when this doesn't work." She laughed._

_"That's the beauty of it. Whenever she tries to stop, I just have to tell her that it'll take time. Then, when she finally ditches it, she'll stop asking for advice."_

_

* * *

_

The three walked towards their fellow ninja as Lee was getting shot down by Sakura. They saw Neji step toward Sasuke.

" What's your name?" Sasuke turned toward the Hyuga.

"I'm not obligated to answer that. Besides, you should introduce yourself first." And with that, he walked off. Or rather, Sakura dragged him and Naruto off. Hideko decided to speak up.

"You guys are here this year, then?" Team Gai, suddenly aware of their presence, turned. Neji spoke first.

"You three aren't ready for this. You should quit now." And with that, he walked off. Tenten looked a little nervous.

"Sorry about that, he can be kind of rude sometimes." She started after her teammate before turning around. "Lee, are you coming."

Lee turned, looking at his teammate. "You go on ahead. I'll catch up later." He started down the hallway that Sasuke's team had gone down. The three turned toward Tenten. Shiori spoke up.

"Well, anyway, I guess we'll go with you." However, Hideko didn't agree.

"Actually, I'm going to go check something." Her teammates looked at her, confused, before saying anything.

"Alright fine." Said Shiori "But be sure to get to the exam on time." And with that, Hideko turned around and ran after Lee.

* * *

"So Tenten, can I ask you something?" She turned toward Shinsuke. "What kind of name is Tenten, anyway? I mean, that really doesn't sound normal." She laughed.

"It's not one. That's just a nickname. As in, ten for ten. Like my accuracy, get it? It stuck, and I've been going by it ever since." The ninja kept walking down the hallway. They could see Neji waiting for them at the door, as well as Gai and Etsuya. He looked towards them.

"Where is Lee? They won't let us through the door until our whole team is here."

"Hideko and him went off after Sasuke's team." Answered Shiori. She could feel Gai staring at her as she said this.

"WHAT!" Etsuya put his hand on Gai's shoulder before he could continue.

"Don't panic, there's plenty of time. Just go find him. I'll keep them out of the room until then."

* * *

"Hey Lee! Wait up!" He slowed a little, letting her catch up. "You want to go fight Sasuke, right?" He looked at her as they ran.

"Yes, but how did you know?"

"I just had a feeling. Mind if I watch?" He looked straight ahead.

"Yes, OK." The two continued down the hallway until they reached a large room. They could see Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura below. "Stop!" The three turned as Lee landed. "My name is Rock Lee. You said to introduce yourself first. Sasuke, would you fight me, right now? I want to test my abilities."

Hideko watched as Naruto charged, only to get spun into a wall. 'Huh, no wonder Shiori lost. Still, Sasuke can handle this.' She felt someone behind her and turned around. Gai had walked over to her from the hallway.

"It seems my extremely youthful pupil is winning." Hideko turned back in time to see Sasuke get kicked into the air.

'How is that possible? Sasuke can't lose!' She didn't want to believe what she was seeing. Sasuke was getting beaten. Badly. Gai was surprisingly silent the entire time, though clearly happy to see his student win. However, he didn't really react until he saw Lee start to unwrap the bandages on his arm, and then kick Sasuke into the air. At that moment, he summoned a giant turtle, which then jumped down, stopping Lee from completing an attack and sending him into the ground. Sasuke was unable to right himself in the air, so Sakura caught him on the way down.

* * *

"What took you two so long? And where's Gai?" Asked Tenten, clearly annoyed about having to wait outside of the test room. They both looked at her.

"Oh, Gai was talking to Kakashi's team." Said Hideko. She hadn't been entirely certain what to expect when they came back. She figured that her team wouldn't exactly be happy about having to wait. She wondered if Lee was thinking the same thing. Shinsuke didn't seem to mind very much, but Shiori did.

"Is this about Sasuke again! Seriously Hideko, there's a time and place for this kind of thing! Do you have any idea of how degrading this was, watching all of these teams go in there, and just sitting here, waiting for some love-sick idiot! And don't think that they were quiet about it, Either!" Hideko was just staring blankly at her. This was a bit more than she was expecting. She could hear Tenten berating Lee, but she was nowhere near as loud. Etsuya, having watched this, decided to interject.

"Well then." Everyone, suddenly remembering he was there, turned. "Since your whole team is finally here, you can go in." The teams turned towards the doorway. Shiori looked back towards her teammate.

"You had better concentrate on this, Hideko." And with that, she opened the door.

The room was about half full of Genin from a number of villages. They couldn't see any form of proctor in the room. The six of them could feel the stares as they walked in. They quietly made their way into the room and sat at two tables, one behind the other, and began waiting, quietly. They watched as more teams showed up, including two of the other Genin squads. Then, the last squad, Kakashi's, showed up. The other Genin went over to him and started talking. Loudly.

"Are you going to go up there, as well?" Asked Lee. The three ninja in front of him turned around.

"No" Said Shinsuke, "I don't feel like making myself a target." Shiori agreed, though Hideko seemed disappointed. They turned back towards the ninja gathered at the door. It appeared that some other Konoha Genin had joined him. Something seemed strange about Naruto, though. He was staring straight towards the ground, shaking. However, to the surprise of everyone, he quickly turned around, pointing towards the room.

"I'm not going to lose to any of you!!!" As he said this, Sakura placed her hand over his mouth before attempting to placate the crowd. Everyone was staring at them.

"Is he an idiot?" Asked Tenten. Shinsuke turned around.

"Yeah, that's a pretty good description. To be entirely honest, I didn't even know he passed until I heard him get put on a team." Shiori turned her head.

"Wait, you either? Does anyone know why he's with a squad?" She heard something behind her. She turned and saw that the Genin that was talking to the rookies in the back was on the ground, surrounded by a group from another village.

"There's no fighting before the test starts. Return to your seats." It seemed that the test was finally about to start.

* * *

Hideko looked at her paper. 'There is no way that they can expect me to answer this.' Out of the nine questions on her paper, she couldn't answer any of them. She glanced around her. It seemed like everyone around her was running into the same problem. In the room, only around six people were actually writing anything. Then she realized the point of the test.

'Wait a second, they want me to cheat! Great, I suck at this kind of thing. Unless...' She thought about the actual rules. She could get caught several times before she officially failed. So she only had to cheat once, get all of the answers, and then she would still pass even if she was caught! She turned her head, slowly. She looked at the waterfall-nin next to her's paper carefully. She had a feeling the Jounin around the room knew, but it didn't matter as long as she only looked once. Then, she heard something. A kunai flew out of nowhere and hit hers and another kids paper. They both jumped up. They looked at the proctor that threw them.

"Alright, you to cheated five times. You fail. Leave." There was no way that she was going to let this go without an argument.

"No I didn't, I cheated once!" In retrospect, that probably wasn't the best argument to make.

"Each question stolen is considered it's own cheat. Besides, you completely violated the spirit of the test. Now then, you two and your teammates. Leave." It was easy to spot the other persons teammates; they were the only ones with their heads in their tables. They then stood up, along with her own teammates, and headed towards the door. She walked out behind them, along with the other person that failed.

* * *

"So let me get this straight, not only did you fail the first stage, you also were the first one to do it!?" Etsuya was clearly annoyed. He hadn't expected any of them to pass, but he was expecting better than _this._

"Well, technically, we were the second." Stated Hideko. Shinsuke looked at her.

"Your an idiot, Hideko. The only reason we weren't the first is because you were the farther from the one who actually threw the kunai."

"It doesn't matter when you did it," Stated Etsuya. "The point is that none of you managed to pass even the first stage." He was trying his best to hold back. He knew that she would probably be angrier with herself than anyone. Except maybe Shiori. Still, he couldn't help but be annoyed that his day off was ruined. "Alright, I guess that I should probably worked with you guys more on stealth, anyway. I have nothing else to say, so unless someone else has anything we are done for the day." No one said anything, so he took his cue. He walked out of the building, leaving his students alone.

They sat there for a little longer, in complete silence. Hideko finally spoke up. "I'm sorry, guys. I'm really really sorry. Neji was right, wasn't he?" Shiori looked at her.

"Don't say that. Neji's opinion means absolutely nothing. In fact, nobody's should mean anything. How many times do I have to tell you, stop thinking about what other people think. Their opinions don't matter. I'm disappointed, not angry. I had a feeling that we weren't going to pass. I even said so. So stop whining, get up, improve yourself, and try again. Your a ninja, so start acting like it." Her reaction took both of her teammates by surprise.

"Are you okay?" Asked Shinsuke. "You seem a bit...weird."

"Yeah, of course I'm alright. But, getting angry won't really help anything." She really meant it. After they walked out of the door of the exam, she was angry. In fact, she was beyond angry. But now, she had had time to cool off. "So then, I guess we, and I mean we," she looked at Shinsuke for a moment, then back to Hideko "are going to try to help you with your stealth. And we're starting tonight, so get ready."

* * *

And seven is done. Always wanted to have them fail the first stage. Always figured that someone without some kinda special jutsu for that kind of thing was screwed. Read and Review


	8. Chapter 8

Okay, chapter 8. Bit longer than normal. Oh well, that's what happens when you cram an entire mission into one chapter.

I don't own Naruto

* * *

**Three days later**

"Well, I have a pretty important announcement for you." Etsuya's squad sat up a bit as he said this. They had been working harder after they failed the exam. "Since the other Genin squads are preparing for stage three of the exam, we've received our first c-rank mission. A number of bandits have been sighted a short distance north of here. One of the villages, a place called Wana, has decided to request a group of ninja in order to protect itself." His squad looked more excited than they had in a long time. "They paid for us to stay there for the next three days. Of course, it will take a full day to get there, and a day to come back. So I'll give you three hours to get ready. We'll meet at the gate then." And with that, his students left. 'Thank god, it's not d-rank again.'

* * *

Shiori ran home as fast as she could. This was really her chance to prove herself. She could finally show off what she had learned. She wondered how she should tell her parents. While they never said it, she knew that they never really wanted her to become a ninja. However, upon arrival, she had discovered that her parents weren't there. She packed up what she could fit into her backpack, then left towards the gate. On the door to her room, she attached a note, which said, simply, _Gone on a mission. Back in a few days._

_

* * *

_

For Shinsuke, the watchword was speed. The less time he spent at his apartment, the less chance that he would run into his overbearing parents. They had no real reason to be there, but they had a habit of suddenly showing up when he least expected it. He grabbed everything that he needed, and quickly ran towards the door. However, he stopped after he reached it. He had hoped it was his imagination, but then he heard it knock again. 'Oh c'mon! Now!' He ran back into the apartment before jumping out the window. It probably wasn't the nicest thing he could have done, but in his mind, it was worth it.

* * *

Hideko walked into her house. Her Dad wasn't there, but her Mom was. When she said that she was going on her first c-rank, her Mom was actually more excited than she was. She grabbed her pack, filled it, said her goodbyes, and left.

* * *

"Well, I guess your all here, so lets go. The village is fairly close. We'll definitely reach it tomorrow." They gate opened up in front of them, and they walked out. "So, I guess this is your first time away from the village, isn't it?" His students nodded. "I wouldn't worry. Konoha will be there when we get back. It always is. Too bad that we'll miss the last stage of the exam, though. I was looking forward to that."

* * *

The trip itself was fairly long and uneventful. They walked down the road out of Konoha for hours. The only people they saw were a few minor lords coming to watch the exam. Near sundown, they stopped at a small inn on the side of the road, had dinner, and relaxed a bit before going to sleep. At dawn, they paid their tab and headed back out. A few hours before sunset, Wana was clearly visible on the horizon. Etsuya decided to address the group.

"Alright, since this is your first real mission, I guess I should explain how this usually works. Normally, a representative would have been at Konoha to guide us here. However, that wasn't the case here, because they decided that if bandits did attack, they would need everyone to be here to have a chance to drive them off. Sometimes, someone will meet us at the gate. Otherwise, we'll need to find the mayor, or elder, of the village and talk to them."

However, when they reached it, things weren't entirely what any of them expected. No one was at the gate itself, so they just walked in. That was when things turned strange. The people on the streets stopped what they were doing to stare at the ninja that were entering into the village. Shiori noticed the look in their eyes. Almost all of them were filled with fear. Then, one of the villagers ran over towards them.

"Hey, mind if I ask what are a bunch of ninja doing here?" Etsuya stared at him.

"This is Wana, isn't it?"

"Of course, now I'll ask again. Why are you here?" Etsuya looked genuinely confused.

"We were hired to come here to protect this village from bandits." The man laughed.

"Does this look like there's bandits here? Either you guys are lying, or this is some kind of practical joke. I think I speak for everyone when I saw that I want you to leave. Now." A few people from the crowd that had gathered nodded, though most just watched.

"Well, I see that now." Started Etsuya. "But it's getting a bit too late to leave. Is there somewhere that we could stay?" The man looked at him for a moment before saying anything.

"Yeah, there is. We have an inn here. It's the one with the sign. But you'll still have to pay." And with that, the man walked off, and the crowd dispersed. The four ninja stood there for a moment before heading off towards the inn. They paid for a room and headed upstairs. After walking in, Hideko spoke up.

"Well, that was a bit different, wasn't it." They all sat down, leaning against the walls.

"Looks like we were a bit late." Said Shinsuke.

"They probably took over a few days ago, found out they had hired ninja, and decided to stay to try to get us to go away." Added Etsuya.

Shiori looked at him. "So whats the plan, then?" Etsuya closed his eyes and thought for a moment.

"Well, we don't know how many of them there are. So, we leave tomorrow, watch the village, and wait for them to reveal themselves."

* * *

"Do you think it worked?"

"No. Those villagers gave us away. They're definitely onto us." The men around him seemed surprised by this.

"Then what do we do?"

"There's only one option. Kazuo, Yoshitomo, I want you to assassinate their leader tonight. The children aren't a threat." Two of the men in front of him backed up slowly. It was obvious they were nervous, but they knew better than to question him.

* * *

Sneaking into the room they were staying in was easier than they would have thought. The two crept slowly towards the large person on the floor. One of them pulled out a knife from under his shirt. The other one walked around to the sleeping man's front. Then, he covered his mouth as the other plunged a knife into his neck. At first, he felt relieved that his task was finished. However, the body then, with a puff of smoke, turned into a backpack. They both turned to the door, only to see it blocked by the supposedly sleeping ninja. They took a step back, only to have there progress blocked by the wall. The one that was apparently in charge spoke up.

"You shouldn't make so much noise if your trying to sneak." He then charged forward, hitting the man named Yoshitomo and knocking him unconscious. Kazuo ran past, only for one of the kids blocking the doorway to slam him into the ground and punched his face. Hideko then stood up and turned towards Etsuya.

"Well, looks like they are that stupid." They then tied the two would-be assassins up and put them in the corner. However, before they could discuss the event, they then heard the door behind them open. They turned around, to see the man from before standing there. Only now, around his head was a hitai-ite with a scratch through it. The four of them readied themselves.

"Well, they failed after all. I was fairly certain they would. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kenkyusha Daisetsu, formerly of Kusagakure. Now then, lets just end this now. But I don't want to destroy this village; it's not good business. Follow the road out of town a bit. I'll be waiting." And with that, he disappeared back through the doorway. Shinsuke looked at Etsuya.

"So then, what do we do now?"

"It's a trap, that's obvious." added Shiori.

"True, but we don't have many options here. We can't risk this village being destroyed. We'll have to trip it."

* * *

Daisetsu waited for those idiots to show up. He hoped they would. That village was an important source of revenue. It wouldn't do to have to set it on fire. His men were in place. All he needed was for them to show up. He could see movement through the darkness. It appeared that they had, indeed, arrived. They walked towards him, stopping about ten feet away. "It appears that I won't have to destroy this village after all." As he said this, an arrow shot out from the nearby woods. It flew straight towards Shiori, striking her directly in the chest. Then, she disappeared into smoke.

"Well, a clone. It appears that one of you has a brain." He charged forward, taking out the other three clones. Then, he heard the sound of metal on metal from the woods. He turned, seeing one of his men come running out, screaming. He grabbed him as he attempted to pass. "I have no use for soldiers who won't fight." He hit the man, killing him instantly. The noise from the bushes ended. Then, a few moments later, the jounin stepped out. "It looks like your a few short."

"I didn't feel like risking their lives against someone of your level just yet. So don't worry about them." He reached into his pack and removed a kunai. "You have a bigger problem." He took a step forward before breaking into a charge. He slashed upwards, which was easily sidestepped by Daisetsu, who pulled out a knife of his own. He countered by swinging at his stomach, but Etsuya jumped backward. He landed and formed a number of seals. The wind then picked up, slashing the area in front of him. Several cuts appeared on Daisetsu's body, and the three genin, who had been watching from the nearby woods, were forced to take cover.

"I really hope you can do better." He walked slowly forward, forming a number of seals along the way. The grass at the sides of the road flew out of the ground towards Etsuya. He jumped backwards, farther from his opponent. He watched as the blades hit the ground, followed shortly by Daisetsu charging towards him. He narrowly dodged a punch towards his face, only to be tripped as his opponent swept his leg. Daisetsu had hoped to use this to advantage, but was forced to divert his attention as a kunai flew out of the nearby woods. He deflected with the knife in his hand. He glanced over, but was unable to locate where the kunai was thrown from. He turned back towards Etsuya, who twisted himself up, kicking in the process. He dodged the attack quickly, then rushed towards the Jounin before he could place his feet.

"After I finish with you, whoever threw that will pay."

* * *

"Nice shot, Hideko."

The three watched from relative safety as their sensei fought the missing-nin. They saw Daisetsu kick him in the head, causing him to stagger backward. He formed a seal, which caused Daisetsu to be blown backwards, but the man managed to land on his feet. The missing-nin then performed his own jutsu, which caused a number of vines to come out of the ground around Etsuya, grabbing at his arms and legs, and dragging them towards the ground.

"This isn't good, he needs help." Said Shiori. Before the others could say anything, she broke into a sprint towards the missing-nin, removing a kunai from her pouch along the way.

"Well, I guess we should go too." Stated Shinsuke, as he and Hideko took off after their teammate. Daisetsu, hearing their approach, turned towards the noise. He then sidestepped the blow, grabbing her arm along the way. Then, with his other arm, smacked the her directly in the stomach, causing her to drop her kunai while spitting up blood. He then hit her in her head, knocking her over onto her back. Then, he brought his leg downwards onto her knee, breaking it with a sharp crack. Shiori screamed out in pain as her teammates came to her aid. Shinsuke slashed towards his neck with his tanto. However, before he could counter, Hideko jumped over Shinsuke to continue the attack, forcing the nin on the defensive.

Daisetsu attempted to dodge the blow towards stomach, only for it to scratch his arm. However, before he could recover, Shinsuke slashed towards his head. He ducked, but was then forced to roll to the side as Hideko ran and slashed at him, sliding under Shinsuke's arm. He then jumped backwards and formed a number of seals. The two genin watched as he appeared to turn into a number of rose petals, which blew around the two of them, appearing to multiply along the way.

"Great, I think we just got hit by some kind of genjutsu." Said Hideko. A cut suddenly appeared on her arm. Shinsuke looked at her, wondering what was wrong, when he felt something cut his leg.

"How are we supposed to fight this!" Shouted Shinsuke as another cut appeared on his body. The two of them stood back to back inside of the whirlwind of petals. They tried to think of a way out, but couldn't come up with anything, and with each passing second, one of them received another cut along their body. Then, the petals disappeared as, with a sudden gust of wind, Daisetsu appeared and was blown backwards into a tree.

"Sorry, but that took longer to break than I thought. Hideko, Shinsuke, I want you to get Shiori back to Wana. The villagers will probably be a bit more cooperative, seeing as the bandits aren't there." Said Etsuya, not looking at them. Hideko and Shinsuke merely nodded, then ran where Shiori was laying, holding her injured leg. They hoisted her up, then slowly started to walk her back, one on each side.

"Your not getting away!" Screamed Daisetsu, throwing his knife directly at Shinsuke. However, before it made impact, Etsuya ran over and deflected it.

"No. This is just us." He removed three shuriken, took aim, and threw. They were easily dodged, as his target then charged head on. Etsuya stepped to the side, and then circled around his opponent. From behind, he then grabbed the back of Daisetsu's shirt and yanked, knocking him off balance, before kicking him directly in the back. Now in the air, the man twisted himself around and attempted to form a seal. However, before he could use his jutsu, the wind around him suddenly picked up, sending him farther upwards and causing even more cuts to appear throughout his body.

Etsuya jumped into a tree and then, using it as a springboard, leaped above the missing-nin. Then, he brought his foot down onto his chest, smashing into the ground. Etsuya landed a few feet away, staring as his opponent attempted to stand up, coughing up blood along the way. "Just give up. It's not worth the effort." The man just glared.

"I will not lose like this!" With the last of his strength, he ran forward punching Etsuya's hitai-ite. However, it turned into a log.

A log with an explosive note attached to it.

* * *

There was a loud noise outside, causing him to wake. He got up as fast as his body would let him, but he wasn't as young as he had used to be. He opened his door, and realized that he was the last one to get outside. The rest of the village was already awake. Suddenly, he heard a yell.

"Someone's coming!" He turned. There were three of them, and none of them looked like bandits. However, their presence still managed to spark panic throughout the area, and many people ran back inside. He wanted to, as well, but didn't see much point in it. He was old, and if any bandit had wanted to kill him, they would do it whether he was in or out. However, as the three got closer, he realized that they were some of the ninja from earlier. He noticed that one of them was badly injured, and that the other two were covered in scratches. As they came closer, it was obvious that the girl in the middle was barely conscious.

"Can you help us? The bandits should be gone now." Said the girl on the end. She sounded exhausted. He sighed, relieved. The village had pooled all the money it could to hire someone to help them. It was nice that they had managed to solve the problem so quickly.

"Of course. My house is right here. Your welcome to use it if you'd like, but didn't you have a room?" he asked. To the best of his knowledge, they had payed for a room at the inn. And it wasn't too far away, either.

"Yeah, but we don't want to carry her too far." Said the boy on the end. "Also, we have two of Daisetsu's men tied up there. We'd would rather make sure that they hadn't escaped before we carry an injured person in there." The three went slowly into his house. He looked towards the inn. If there were captives, it could be settled in the morning. Then, he headed in behind the three children. They were helping her onto a couch. He got a closer look at their injuries. Some of the cuts on the two were fairly deep. It was amazing to him that they were able to reach the village while carrying someone from where that explosion had occurred. The girl that was laying down had already slipped into unconsciousness. She was fairly banged up herself. The two that were still standing looked over towards him.

"Sorry it took so long to say this," spoke the girl "but I'm Hideko. This is Shinsuke" she pointed at the boy next to her "and our teammate is Shiori. Thank you for helping us with this." He smiled.

"My name is Gidayu. And your welcome to stay here, but wasn't there another one of you?" She looked down towards her feet. The boy called Shinsuke walked towards the door before turning around.

"I'm going to go see if he's okay. Take care of Shiori." And with that, he left.

"Sorry about him." Said Hideko. "That other person is Etsuya. He's our teacher." With his question answered, he walked towards the unconscious girl.

"What happened to her." Hideko looked directly at Shiori as she spoke.

"Her knee was broken. She also took a few other hits. I'm not sure how bad it is yet."

* * *

Shinsuke ran towards the spot. He felt a sharp pain on his side where a particularly deep cut had been made. He ignored it in his dash towards where the explosion had come from. That was a few minutes ago, but that had to be where he was. However, what he saw made him stop. He could see someone walking towards him. As they got closer, however, he could clearly tell who it was.

Etsuya had survived after all.

He waited at the side for the man to come closer. Etsuya stopped when he reached him.

"Shouldn't you have stayed with Shiori?" He shook his head.

"I thought I should make sure that your alright. I didn't like the idea of leaving you behind on this."

"You really don't have much confidence in me, do you? Your teammates both needed you, and I can take care of myself. Now then, we should get back as soon as possible. I'm going to carry you, because you shouldn't be moving around so much with that injury on your side. We need to get back. Hideko is waiting, and I need to check you three's wounds."

* * *

They made it back only a few minutes later. Shiori was still where he left her. Hideko was sitting on a chair, waiting for them, as was Gidayu.

"What happened?" They ignored the question. Shinsuke stayed by the door as Etsuya walked over to Shiori. He bent over and looked at her leg.

"It looks like it's completely shattered. We need a medical ninja. It looks like we'll need to take her back to Konoha for this. Now then, I need to check the two of you out, as well.

He preceded to examine the two of them. He went back to their room at the inn and grabbed their things, since it was obvious that they wouldn't be staying there. He also wanted to make sure that the two prisoners hadn't escaped. He then removed the medical pouch he had brought with him and bandaged up a number of their injuries. A cut on Shinsuke's left side had been fairly deep, as well as one on Hideko's right shoulder. He then went outside and found some sticks, which he used to make a brace for Shiori. The two now bandaged genin then held the girl down as Etsuya attached the brace to her leg. With that finished, he was finally able to rest. He looked towards the group.

"Okay, things haven't really gone like I had expected. Gidayu, do you mind that we will be unable to stay the next two day's as had been planned?" The old man shook his head.

"I don't think that anyone will, after I explain what happened. There isn't any reason for you to be here if there isn't anyone to protect us from." And with that, the group was finally able to rest.

* * *

After thanking Gidayu, they headed back towards Konoha in the morning. Shiori was being helped by her two teammates, since she was still unable to walk on her own. Etsuya was in the front of the group. Their pace was much slower than it had been on the trip there. It had taken them two nights to get near Konoha. They left their camp and continued down the road. They noticed smoke from up ahead. Upon reaching the top of the hill they were headed up, they realized why.

Konoha was burning.

* * *

Oh wow. The failure at suspense.

Oh, and thank you to Wajak for adding me to his favorite story list

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	9. Chapter 9

Okay, so it looks like this will be ten chapters.

I don't own Naruto

* * *

They stared for a few seconds before they completely realized what had occurred. None of them moved, unsure of what to do or think. Finally, Etsuya turned towards his squad.

"Okay, I'm going up ahead to scout out the village. I want all of you to go forward at your own pace. In the worst case scenario, then you need to make your way to the mountainside. It will be safe there." And with that, he sped off. 'Dammit, this mission has gone completely to hell.'

He headed through the village gateway. The signs of damage around him were obvious. He could hear the faint din of fighting going on all around him. He headed towards the arena, where the heaviest fighting was likely to be. 'I can't worry about those three. They should be okay.'

* * *

The three of them walked slowly down the path. Shinsuke was assisting Shiori, leaving Hideko to watch the area around them. They heard voices from nearby.

"Hideko" Said Shinsuke. "Go see what's going on. I'll stay with Shiori." Hideko nodded before heading disappearing into the thick. The girl in his arm just looked down.

'Why now? Why do I have to be a burden to them? This isn't how my life was supposed to be!'

* * *

She scrambled through the bushes as quietly as she could. Eventually, she stopped, spying the source. It appeared that Shikamaru, one of the laziest people she ever met, had somehow managed to capture a number of people. They appeared to be ninja, but she couldn't tell where they were from. She felt fairly confident that she had never seen the symbol on their hitai-ite before. However, she noticed a glint in the corner of her eye. In a nearby tree, another of the strange ninja was sitting, and in his hand was a number of shuriken.

She turned and ran straight up the tree the man was hiding in. However, he was concentrating so much on his target he never noticed her until she was almost all the way up, and by then it was too late. She aimed and landed her punch directly on his chin. He appeared to float for a minute before falling down onto the ground, hitting with a dull thud. She jumped off herself, landing near the lifeless body. 'So, I had to kill after all.' She had been struggling with this concept since she had become a ninja. Now that it happened, it shocked her how little she really felt now that she had done it. She walked out towards Shikamaru. He looked at her, along with his captives.

"Hey, not to be rude or anything, but wasn't your team on a mission?" 'when was she injured?'

"We just got back. Shinsuke and Shiori are back at the road. Whats happening? Who are these-" Before she could finish, he flinched, and she noticed the shadow on the ground become thinner.

"Great. Looks like this I'm out of chakra." The ninja in front of them all seemed to laugh. She backed up, only to hear someone land behind her.

* * *

"She shouldn't have been gone for this long." Said Shiori. The two of them had been waiting in the middle of the open road for a few minutes, and it made them nervous. Something strange was going on, something bad, and they had no idea where anyone else was.

"We just need to wait a little longer." Said Shinsuke, doing his best to calm her down. Of course, he had no idea how shaky his own voice sounded, but he hoped he sounded more confident than he felt. They could hear what sounded like fighting from where Hideko had headed off. "What is going on?" A few seconds later, they saw movement, causing them both to step back. However, it was Hideko who came out. Directly behind her was Shikamaru, which surprised both of them.

"What happened to you three?" He asked. The confusion on his face was obvious.

"Never mind us." Started Shiori. "We come back from a mission, see smoke coming from our home. Then Hideko heads off after a noise, and finds you? What in the world is going on?" He looked towards the bushes.

"The village is under attack." The three were all surprised by this, though Hideko was noticeably less so. "It's a combination of the Sand and Sound villages. Sasuke had chased a group out this way. Sakura, Naruto, and I were supposed to back him up. Their somewhere farther ahead. Asuma is back where I came from handling a group of Sound-nin. I'm not going to be of much help now, since I used all of my chakra on stalling those sound guys. What about you three. You don't like seem to be able to fight right now, either."

"Etsuya told us to head to the Hokage Monument." Said Shinsuke. After he said this, Asuma came out the brush.

"Well, that's the main evacuation point. It would be heavily guarded, since that should be where the civilians are headed."

* * *

'So, this is where it started.' Thought Etsuya. He had finally reached the arena at the center. It wasn't especially hard; most of the attackers had moved on, and those that stayed behind were easy targets. They hadn't been expecting anyone to come from behind. He carefully scanned the area. In the seats, a number of Jounin were protecting the crowd, who appeared to be unconscious, from a group of ninja whose outfits he didn't recognize as being from a major village. On the roof, a large barrier had formed. He wasn't sure what was happening, but he could see people in cloaks standing outside looking in. On the ground, two ninja were fighting. One was a fellow Konoha-nin. The other appeared a sand shinobi. 'Well, I guess that I should help.' He made his way towards the two on the bottom. They had appeared to be fighting fairly evenly. He hoped to be able to tip the scales.

* * *

Asuma led the four genin into the village. He was fairly confident, considering their condition, that they would never make it on their own. While Shiori was now being carried by Shinsuke, their speed was still slower than he had hoped. But it couldn't be helped. It was clear from seeing the look on their faces that whatever they had been expecting, this was far worse.

Weapons were scattered about seemingly at random. Blood was splattered about the street, and numerous bodies were strewn about, not all of them ninja. He picked up his pace, forcing the people following him to follow suit. The less they had to see, he thought, the better off they would be. They turned a corner, only to see a small group of sound-nin guarding. They were spotted in an instant.

"Okay, just stay back. I'll take care of them, and then we'll move on." He charged the group head on, hitting the first one directly across the chest. The genin then heard something; a group of three had heard the noise had came from their side to investigate. Asuma was unable to assist, due to the ones in front of them.

Shikamaru looked at the other three genin. "I still don't have any chakra, so I'll help Shiori, since my taijutsu is bad." He took Shiori from Shinsuke, setting her on the ground, allowing her to lean on his side. "You just need to delay them a bit. So don't take any unnecessary risks." The two nodded and left.

"I really hate being useless." Said Shiori, watching them leave.

* * *

Etsuya threw the kunai in his hand at the sand-nin. He quickly dodged it, as well as the punch Genma aimed at his gut. He then slashed towards the ninja in front of him with a kunai, which was blocked. Etsuya appeared behind him and landed a hit on his shoulder, which did little more than scratch the man's armor. He was then sent back as he was kicked in the gut. Genma ducked as the man spun around, attempting to stab his head. Genma tried a leg sweep. Baki jumped over it, but he wasn't expecting Etsuya to have recovered, and was thus unprepared for the blow to his back. He was thrown a few feet back, but managed to right himself in the air.

"After we finish, mind telling me what's going on?" Said Etsuya to the man beside him. He nodded, and the two then charged once again, meeting their opponent halfway.

* * *

Shinsuke cut towards the group with his naginata, but they all managed to jump back in order to avoid the attack. Hideko, standing behind him, formed a seal, activating her bloodline. The three in front of her stepped back, unsure of what to expect. She removed two kunai from her pouch and walked next to Shinsuke, one in each hand. The two sides had stood there for a moment, watching the other, and then they both charged. Shinsuke used his spear to flip behind one, dodging the attack, and then cut along the man's back. Hideko dodged an attack from one, and then stabbed towards his gut while using the other kunai to block an attack. The man she attempted to hit stepped to the side, but wasn't expecting to be hit as Shinsuke used the blunt end to separate the man from his comrade. However, after the attack, the other one kicked, hitting him directly in his already injured side. He flew backward. He landed on his side, but flipped back to his feet off of a bounce. The wound at his side had reopened, as the bandages had started to turn more red. He watched as the one he had cut earlier finally managed to stand up, although obviously with great difficulty. Shinsuke broke into a sprint towards the man. He stared as the genin flew directly at him, smashing him into a wall. Meanwhile, Hideko was staying mainly defensive, blocking or dodging the attacks directed at her. A few of their blows managed to touch her, but the damage itself was fairly minor.

Shikamaru and Shiori watched this, occasionally looking towards Asuma, hoping that he would finish with his group. It was obvious that the two wouldn't be able to continue for much longer.

* * *

Etsuya dodged the blade, continuing to stay defensive. He was an experienced Jounin, but he preferred stealth to direct action. Genma threw another volley of senbon towards Baki, and as he expected, none of them hit their mark. However, the attack managed to buy Etsuya enough time to use a jutsu, which sent their enemy backward, as well as causing a few minor scratches. The man skidded to a stop. He then took his time, moving forward fairly slowly. Etsuya and Genma both readied themselves.

* * *

'Dammit, I'm almost out of chakra.'

Even with time slowed, Hideko was having trouble reading the two ninja's movements. She was continually forced backward, closer to where Shikamaru and Shiori were. Shinsuke's bandages were red and dripping now. He struggled and managed to get to his feet.

As he stood up, his vision blurred. He could distinctly see three different figures. He could guess which was which, but he wasn't positive. He reached into his pouch, pulled out the first thing his hand touched, and threw it. The shuriken flew directly at the back of one of the sound-nin. The man was obviously not expecting it. He quickly turned, only to see the genin smirking at him. Hideko realized the opportunity and stabbed his neck before he could react. He died instantly.

The last one left was acting more aggressively now. Hideko was barely able to avoid him, and knew that her bloodline could cut off at any moment. She could feel the exhaustion creeping up. She dodged a cut towards her face, then collapsed onto the ground. She had reached her limit. Her eyes turned back to normal. The man, wanting to end it quickly, wasted no time in his attack. However, before it struck, the ground in front of him rose up, blocking his kunai. He looked around for the source of the jutsu. The girl whose leg was broken had formed a seal.

"Well then, I guess I should just switch targets." He threw the blade at the girl. However, a Jounin appeared, knocking it off to the side with a pair of brass knuckles. He then ran forward and, forming a blade off of the sides of his weapons, slashed across the man, killing him.

Asuma looked at the Genin under him. Shinsuke's side was bleeding pretty bad. Hideko was exhausted from her fight, but was otherwise uninjured. Shikamaru and Shiori were similarly unharmed by the attack. 'We'll have to be more careful. We can't afford another fight.'

* * *

Okay, hope ya liked that. Got kinda lazy at the end.

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	10. Chapter 10

Last part. So then, enjoy.

* * *

**The Day After**

Shiori looked out the window of her hospital room. Unfortunately, the clouds seemed to fit the current appearance of the village, and her mood, perfectly. It seemed strange that, less than twenty-four hours ago, she had seen her home in flames. That she had made it to safety. That she had found out that her knee was shattered, and that she wouldn't be able to move it for several months. That the village had been cleared, and was carried back to what was left of the hospital.

Less than twenty-four hours.

Hideko had left just a few minutes before. Shinsuke was in a bed across the hall. He had lost a lot more blood than anyone had realized. He was trying to explain to his mother that, while he was in a hospital, that it wasn't life threatening, that it was really not much more than a scratch, that he was perfectly okay, and that it was just "a little blood loss." And by the sound of it, she wasn't taking it well.

Her own parents were much more forgiving about it. Her wound had, for better or worse, made them forget entirely about the note she had left. She just hoped they wouldn't bring it up.

She turned back towards the door, since the outside was too depressing. Hinata was waiting outside her teammates room. She didn't seem to want to go in with Shinsuke's mother there. And she didn't blame her.

* * *

"No, really, I'm fine! I'll be out in a few days!" Said Shinsuke, frantic.

"Are you sure, that's a pretty bad cut and when-"

"Of course I'm sure! Why wouldn't I be! This is nothing. In fact, as a ninja, I'm expected to be injured every now and then!"

"But your training is supposed to-"

"Things happen. Sometimes you hurt yourself. You know that!"

"But this is your first time and I want you to know that I'm here and-" He didn't even hear the rest. He just leaned back into the bed in defeat. There was no use at all arguing. Then, he heard it.

"Okay, well I guess I'll leave you to rest for now."

It was by far the best thing that he could have heard. He sat back up, watching her leave, making sure he hadn't just imagined it. The woman stopped outside his door, looking off to the side. A little further away, he could see Shiori staring at something.

"Are you lost?" He had on idea who she was talking to.

"Umm. Not really. I just wanted to drop something off." Said a soft voice. He could barely hear it, which narrowed down the choices for who it could be quite a bit.

"That's so sweet! Well, he's all yours." His mother walked off, making a mental note to ask about her later. A few moments later, Hinata appeared. She looked fairly nervous.

"Was that your mother, Shinsuke?"

"Oh, yeah. Looks like you finally met it. Hope she didn't bother you too much." He said, knowing that, most likely, it did.

"I-I wanted to give you this." She held out a small container. "It should be good for cuts." He took it from her hand.

"Oh. Thanks Hinata."

* * *

Hideko was walking back to where her home had used to be. She wasn't entirely sure where she would go tonight, but she wasn't thinking about that. She had just been told, as she left the hospital, that neither of her parents had survived the invasion. The words echoed in her skull. She tried to keep her mind off of it for a little while, but couldn't. The feeling of death was all around her, amplified by the dreary sky and destroyed husks of buildings. It was as though the universe was completely against her, and she hated it. She hated Orochimaru for killing the Hokage. She hated Otogakure for the death of her parents. She hated Sunagakure for helping them do it. She hated her parents for leaving her alone. She hated Sasuke for distracting her from what had really mattered for all those years.

And she hated herself for feeling this way.

She stopped in front of where the door used to be. What was once a fairly normal home was now a charred wooden husk, completely unrecognizable. She walked in where the door had been, imagining everything as it was. She turned down the now-imaginary hallway toward where her room had been. She searched through the rubble for a little bit, hoping something had survived. But there was nothing. No matter where she looked, there was nothing but ashes that blew away when unearthed and small chunks of wood and rock that were badly charred and black. She had hoped for a picture, or something that she could associate with her parents.

There was nothing left.

She grabbed a rock and threw it in frustration. Then, she grabbed a small chunk of wood from the ground and stuffed it in her pouch. If she couldn't have something to remember them by, then she would have something to remember how she felt. In her mind, this small chunk seemed to represent her life at the moment perfectly. She walked away, looking for somewhere that she could be alone. She would come back to reality later.

* * *

"So, it looks like she'll be okay, in enough time." Said Asuma. He had been with Etsuya watching Hideko's performance from a distance. Etsuya turned his head.

"I hope so, anyway. But things won't be normal here anytime soon." Asuma nodded.

"How's the other two?"

"They should be fine. They're at the hospital, but they'll get out."

"It's only a matter of time, then?"

"Yeah."

* * *

So that's the end. Think I improved a bit throughout that. feels weird finishing it, though.

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